In the next few days, the roads and stores will be extremely crowded. In fact, AAA is expecting crowded roads this Thanksgiving and retailers are expecting Black Friday sales to increase 4.1 percent. Some stores such as Sears, Target and even Wal-mart are even panning to open on Black Friday Eve to capitalize on sales opportunities.
If you’re one of the brave who plans to venture out over the holidays, it’s a wise move to take precautionary measures to protect your smartphone or tablet in case it gets lost during all of the hustle and bustle. Sure, you can store it in your pocketbook or keep it in your jacket pocket, but what do you do when those items get lost or stolen and you end up without your beloved gadget?
Sure, you can go out and purchase another one, but that’s no fun. Not to mention, it puts a damper on the holidays. Instead, try these 3 ways to recover a lost smartphone or tablet.
- Add your contact information to your lockscreen:
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One of the biggest challenges in dealing with a lost phone is that if you have a passcode enabled (meaning someone cannot access your phone without your code), getting your phone back pretty tough. A good way to overcome this and improve your chances of getting your phone or tablet back is to include business card information on your lockscreen.
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What to do: Take a photo of your business card and set your lockscreen to the photo. On an iPhone or iPad, you can do this under Settings > Brightness & Wallpaper. This way if your phone gets lost, someone will be able to know who to contact. If your phone happens to run out of power, the good thing is that all someone needs to do is charge your device and they’ll be able to power up your device to see who to contact.
- Attach a business card:
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If you don’t have a business card, consider making your own (nothing fancy).
What to do: On a small piece of paper, write out your contact information where you want someone to be able to contact you. Be sure your handwriting is legible. This way they can contact you. There are a few ways you can attach a business card to your device. One way is to tape a business card to the back of your case. If your device has a place for a slip of paper, consider adding one instead. Better safe than sorry!
- Using an app:
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If you want to take the ultimate precautions to protect your smartphone or tablet should it get lost, I recommend using an app. You’re probable wondering how can I use an app if my device gets lost? You don’t have to have your smartphone or tablet to run these two apps that I recommend. You do have to download and install them and set them up first though.
What to do: If you don’t want to attach a business card or make your lockscreen an image of your contact information, there’s always the app route. If you have an iPhone or iPad, I recommend Find my iPhone, which is great for locating your device. To use the app, simply download it, add your devices, and then if your devices gets lost, fire up the app from a nearby computer and locate your missing devices! If you have a Google Android phone, a great alternative is Where Is My Droid, which functions very much the same way.
Not only can these 3 ways to recover a lost smartphone or tablet help you stay sane, but they’ll also help you recover your lost gadgets.
Have you used any of these methods to recover your lot smartphone or tablet? Leave a comment below with what worked for you.
